Synopsis: The Scions of Cytorrak are too much and Spider-Man has used up ALL of his lives. Is this the FINAL death of Spider-Man!?
The Story
Picking up where the last issue left off, Callix has been infected by the blight and has murdered the last scion, who was defeated by Juggernaut and the X-Men. Having just heard Strange’s warning about the blight, Spider-Man is still wallowing in his pity party. However, Crya senses the infection and rushes to drag him, ready or not, to see what happens when the blight is allowed to spread unchecked. She takes him to F.E.A.S.T., where Spider-Man learns that Shay, Aunt May, and other significant people in his life have been murdered by an out-of-control Callix carrying the infection. Horrified, Spidey finally snaps out of his pity party and sets out to make things right.
His first task is to ask Coulson to use all the remaining Reeds of Raggadorr to restore the lives of his friends. This means Spidey will no longer have the novelty of extra lives, and failure will spell certain death. His first stop is to find Juggernaut to learn where the X-Men are fighting Callix. With Juggernaut by his side, Spidey teams up with the X-Men and leads the charge against Callix. Calling upon a last-resort magic spell taught to him by Strange, Spidey uses it to weaken Callix, giving his allies the chance to land their best shots. Unfortunately, the spell has little to no effect, and Callix, only slightly weakened, retreats to handle other business.
Concerned for her remaining family, Crya takes Spider-Man to a place outside of our reality where her family and other magical entities reside. Upon arrival, she’s horrified to find that her family is dead, and Cytorrak seems unresponsive. The blight has done its worst. Just then, Callix appears, seemingly to finish off Spider-Man. Things are looking grim.
Artwork
Andrea Broccardo delivers fantastic work on this issue. The moment Spider-Man learns the fate of Aunt May is beautifully choreographed, especially in how the panels build up to it. This is very much a book built on moments, and the penultimate page delivers a dramatic one, showing Spidey’s fate with a striking image of Callix performing a “Spidey drop” that has the feel of a microphone drop. It’s a dramatic and chilling moment, but also oddly hilarious, considering the visual and the various contexts your mind might interpret it in. The question remains. Is this the death of Spider-Man?
Overall
A really fun book that leaves us with a massive, if not somewhat obvious, cliffhanger. But hey, the fun is in the journey, right?
